Staffers win AMS awards

The American Meteorological Society selected Rich Rotunno (MMM), Peggy
LeMone (MMM), and Andrew Gettelman (ACD) as 2004 award recipients. COMET
also won an award. The honors were given on January 14 in Seattle during
the 84th AMS annual meeting.

Jule G. Charney Award

Rich
Rotunno won the Jule G. Charney Award “for highly significant,
scholarly contributions to understanding the dynamics that govern a wide
spectrum of mesoscale phenomena and processes.” Rich’s research
focuses on mesoscale phenomena such as tornadoes, squall lines, and gust
fronts.

The AMS gives the Charney Award to individuals in recognition of highly
significant research or development achievement in the atmospheric or
hydrologic sciences. It is named in honor of Jule Charney, who played
a major role in establishing the theoretical framework on which numerical
weather prediction is based.

Charles E. Anderson Award

Peggy
Lemone won the Charles E. Anderson Award “for joyfully sharing
her understanding of meteorology through publications and individual
mentoring, and inspiring people of all ages with her journey as a woman
of science.”

Peggy is an observational meteorologist who studies the behavior of large
storm systems and researches different aspects of the lowest kilometer
of the atmosphere, called the planetary boundary layer. In addition to
her work with MMM, she serves as the chief scientist of GLOBE, the international
education and science program that is based at UCAR.

The AMS gives the Charles E. Anderson Award to an individual or organization
in recognition of outstanding or extraordinary contributions to the promotion
of educational outreach, educational service, and diversity
in the AMS
and broader communities.

Editor’s Award

Andrew Gettleman won the Editor’s Award from the AMS Journal of
Atmospheric Sciences for his “thoughtful, detailed, and constructive
reviews of papers on convective mixing
and stratosphere-
troposphere exchange processes.”

Andrew’s research focuses on the radiation and chemical balance
of the tropical atmosphere and how these processes affect global
climate and the ozone layer.

Battan Award in K–12
Category

COMET won the Battan Award in K–12 Category for the development
of Hurricane Strike!, “an immersive, highly interactive and entertaining
educational resource for teaching hurricane science and safety with creative
use of multimedia and exceptional meteorological quality.”

The award, which is being presented for the first time this year, recognizes
authors of outstanding, newly published learning materials or books that
foster the understanding of atmospheric and related sciences in K–12
audiences.

Hurricane Strike! is a multimedia package aimed at middle school students
that conveys basic concepts of atmospheric science, climate, and geography
related to hurricanes, as well as key safety and preparedness skills.
The learner is a virtual houseguest of the imaginary Castillo family
in Florida. Photos, sounds, animations, and reports take the learner
through the course of a seven-day hurricane threat.